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Court sentences Neil Andrew McDonald to two years in jail for breaching Alberta securities laws and ASC orders

CALGARY, June 2, 2015 /CNW/ - A Provincial Court of Alberta judge has sentenced Neil Andrew McDonald to two years in jail after McDonald pled guilty to three counts of fraud, as well as making misrepresentations to investors and violating a 2010 Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) Settlement Agreement. Under the Agreement, McDonald had undertaken to refrain from acting as a registrant or investment adviser and to otherwise cease trading in securities.

Provincial Court Judge Van de Veen also ordered McDonald to:

permanently refrain from trading in securities or acting as an advisor in connection with activities in the securities market; and

pay restitution of $240,000 to three complainants.

Judge Van De Veen also ordered a three-year term of probation for McDonald and made payment of restitution a term of that probation. As part of the restitution, Judge Van de Veen ordered that each of the complainants receive a share of the roughly $36,000 in bank accounts controlled by McDonald that the ASC placed under a freeze order during its investigation into McDonald's conduct.

When he made his guilty pleas, McDonald admitted that he had taken funds from three investors on the basis he would use the money to purchase securities in real estate investments connected to Edgeworth Properties Inc. Instead, he put the investors' money into an account he controlled and used the funds for personal purposes. McDonald also admitted to making misrepresentations when he told investors that he was authorized to sell Edgeworth Properties securities and that such securities were protected by deposit insurance. Further, McDonald admitted that his purported sale of securities to the three investors violated undertakings he made under the ASC Settlement Agreement.

A copy of a transcript of the verbal decision can be obtained through the Provincial Court of Alberta in Calgary. All written judgments of the Provincial Court of Alberta are available from the CanLII website at http://www.canlii.org/en/ab/.

The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province's securities laws. It is entrusted with fostering a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and protecting investors. As a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators, the ASC works to improve, coordinate and harmonize the regulation of Canada's capital markets.